As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9: 1 -3)

Here’s my commentary on these three verses in a nutshell:

A.The Gospel of John has no conception of either
Original Sin (counter to the theology of St. Paul)or an Age of Accountability (per
Christian Theology)

According to the disciples’ understanding
of Jewish Theology, God had blinded the man because of one of two things:

1.His parents had sinned and God cursed their
child with blindness as stated in Exodus 20: 5 – 6: “ . . . for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the
fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Or

2. As a fetus in his mother’s womb, this man committed a sin for which
God had cursed him with blindness before his birth.

B.But Jesus has his own view on the evilness
of God

Jesus does not deny the
theological truth of the disciples, however (in the case of this blind man) Jesus let the disciples know that God cruelly blinded
the man before birth so that he (Jesus) could decades later have a reason to teach
a lesson about himself.

(Sadly, despite
the likelihood of there being hundreds
of blind people in first century CE Roman Palestine who either lost their sight in an accident or by natural causes (such as disease) and really needed Jesus’ miracle healing; the Gospel tells us that God cursed this man with blindness and suffering simply so one day Jesus’
could use his supernatural power to prove a religious point . . . that Jesus is
the light of the world!)

In conclusion, what is revealed in John 9: 1-3 is that early
first century CE Jewish theology - as expressed by the disciples - blamed God (not
Satan) for human suffering.However,
in this man’s case, Jesus denies the sin factor, and informs the disciples that God caused and left this man blind for decades (much to the sorrow of his parents, their prayers and his own hardships) simply so Jesus could make a point about himself by arguing religion with the
Pharisees.